Leather wringing machine



Nov. 5, 1940. w. c. JOHNSON LEATHER WRINGING MACHINE Filed Feb. 10, 1938s Sheets-Sheet 1 l1. v 1: MINI/as. Nv

[0 CINVEN Mi ATTORNEYS Nov. 5, 1940.

w. c. JOHNSON LEATHER WRINGING MACHINE Filed Feb. 10, 1938 3Sheets-Sheet 2 I INVENTOR.

A TTORNEYS Nov. 5, 1940. w. c. JOHNSON LEATHER WRINGING MACHINE 3Sheets-Sheet 5 NTOR.

Filed Feb. 10, 1938 n-I &N

NVMRN INVE C.

QLQMQ4 9 7 M ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 5, 1940 I UNITED STATES PAT E-NT'oFF- cs LEATHER WRINGING MACHINE William C. Johnson; Milwaukee,.Wis.,assignor to Machinery Development Company, Milwaukee; Wis.-, acorporation of Wisconsin Application February 10, 1938, Serial No.'189,'V788.-

5 Claims. (Cl.149 -23) The invention relates to leather wringing. ma-

chines. v In the operation of wringing leather, plates or creases areformed at the shanks and neck porw tions of the hide. The higher thewringing pressure the greater is the pressure to whichithe creasableportions of the hide are subjected. The wringing machines have heavy andexpensive woolen coverings for the wringing rolls.

in When the pleated portions of the hide are sub- 15 smooth portions ofthe hide.

rolls on the hide-may be varied during the wringing of the hide, so thatthe pressure on the hide may be decreased as the neck and shank 'portions of the hide, which naturally, tend to pleat or crease, are fedthrough said rolls. Thus by 25 decreasing the pressure when thepleatable portions of the hide are being wrung, the life of the woolencoverings for the rolls is conserved, there is less spoilage of the hidethrough cracks developed at the pleated portions, and' these pleatedportions are a little more moist than other portions of the hide whichaids in theperforming of subsequent operations, such. as splitting..

A further object of the invention is to provide a leather wringingmachine in which one of the 35 squeeze rolls is operated by a singlehydraulic cylinder operatively connected to the roll through equalizermechanism.

In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a vertical'sectional view through a machineembodying the invention, parts being, broken away;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view similar to Fig. l

showing the rolls in squeezing position, parts being broken away; v

E Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken generally along thebroken line 3-3 ofFig. 1, parts being broken away;

Fig. 4 is a detailed sectional viewtaken on the line 44 of Fig. 3; 5

0* Fig. 5 is a detailed sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a detailed sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view ofthe hydraulic power supply.

Referringrto the drawings,.the leather wringe ingmachine includes aframe having side frame members 8 and cross-frame members 8.

A pair of rolls 9 and Ill are suitably journalled in the frame anddriven through gears II and 5.

l2 meshing with a gear l3 on a shaft |4 carrying a worm wheel |5 meshingwith a worm It on a shaft ll driven byan electric motor l8.

Therolls 9 and III are provided with a woolen covering I9 in the form ofa band passing over 10 said rolls and a small roll 29 which isjournalled at its ends in' individually adjustable bearing blocks 2|.Each block 2| is mounted in a guide member 22 on a screw shaft 23carried in bearings in said guide member and provided with a hand wheel24. Moving these bearing blocks 2| through the turning of the shafts 23moves the roll and tensions the band or covering |9 and allows someindependent adjustment of the sides of theband. The two rolls 9 and I0and the roll 20 20 together with the covering or band |9 which movesover said .rolls are sometimes referred to as the upper squeeze rollunit.

The lower squeeze roll unit includes the rolls 25 and 26 and the woolencovering or band 21 25 running over said rolls, these rolls beingsuitably journalled in bearings 28 on a beam 29 which is slidablymounted in. guides 39 on the side frame members 8. The movements of theends of the beam 29 are equalized by equalizerarms 30 3| mounted on acommon pivot shaft 32 and engaging in slots 33 at the ends of the beam.

* The rolls v9, I0, 20, 25, and 26 are each provided with a series oflongitudinally extending grooves 9' which act to keep the coveringsassociated with said rolls, from slipping relativethereto.

A spreading or setting out roll 34 of the helic'ally grooved face typeis journalled in the frame constant speed by belts adapted tooperatively connect a multiple belt pulley 35with a suitable source ofpower. A rubber faced presser roll 36 is mounted in bearings 31 slidablymounted in guides 38 on the beam 29 and yieldingly moved '5 outwardly bysprings 39 interposed between said bearings 31 and adjustable stops 4|],each of said bearings 31 having a rod 4| adjustably secured thereto andslidably mounted in a guide 42111 the beam and provided with adjustablestop nuts 43 limiting the outward movement of said bearing. With thisconstruction when the beam 29 is raised to bring the'lower squeeze rollinto operative association with the upper squeeze roll; the presser-roll36 is brought intoioperative of tl'ie'machine and is independentlydriven at 40 association with the spreading r011 34 and is adapted asshown in Fig. 2 to yieldingly press the hide 44 against said spreadingroll.

The beam 29 with the lower squeeze roll is adapted to be raised andlowered by hydraulic means comprising a piston 45' operating in acylinder 45 and having its rod 46 secured to said beam by .a swivelconnection including the curved bearing surfaces 41 on the beam engagedby the curved nut 48 and curved washer 49, the rod extending through aslot 50 in said beam. This swivel connection permits some tilting of theends of the beam relative to each other. The piston is moved up and downin the cylinder by hydraulic fluid introduced by piping 5| to the spacein front of said piston and by piping 52 to the space in back of thepiston.

For supplying the cylinder with hydraulic fluid, I show in Fig. 7 anhydraulic pump 53 driven by an electric motor 54 and provided with thesuction line 55 and a discharge line 56, these lines connecting throughsuitable valve mechanism 57 with the piping 5| and 52. The valvemechanism has not been shown in detail but is of any suitableconstruction to control the passage of pressure fluid to either of thepipes 5| and 52 and the release of fluid from the other pipe.

The actuator for the control valve includes a link or rod 58 which isnormally moved to an open position by a spring 59 and is adapted to bemoved to a closed position by a lever 60 pivoted intermediate its endsat 6| on the frame of the machine and having an arm 62 forming a treadleat one end thereof. Return movement of the actuator by the spring 59 ischecked or retarded on the release of the treadle by the operatorthrough a dashpot device such as a cylinder 63-having the relief opening64 and having a piston 65 working in said cylinder and having its rod 66operatively connected to the arm 62 of the lever 60 by a link 61. Withthis arrangement the restricted escape of the air from the cylinderthrough the opening 64 checks the upward movement of the piston 65 andhence the lever 60 and the hydraulic control valve mechanism associatedtherewith, so that after the operator takes his foot from the treadle,the valve mechanism, providing a relief of the pressure fluid, will bechecked in its opening movement, so the pressure will be graduallyreduced on the piston which through the connection of its rod 46 withthe beam 29 will reduce the pressure applied by said beam to the lowerpress roll before the pressure is finally relieved. Thus with thepresent arrangement the maximum total pressure between the rolls may bethirty thousand pounds acting on the greater surface of the hide, andthe'release of the foot treadle and the action ofthe dashpot devicepermits the pressure to drop to. twenty thousand pounds while acting onthe shank or neck portions of the hide before the final release.

With the present arrangement the upper press roll unit and the spreadingroll 34 are constantly driven, and with the squeeze roll units separatedas shown in Fig. 1 the hide 44 is placed over the lower squeeze rollunit and over the presser roll 36. Thereafter, the operator depressesthe treadle lever 60 and operates the valve mechanism 51 to admitpressure fluid to the lower end of the cylinder 45 so as to move thepiston and the beam 29'connected therewith upwardly until the squeezeroll units engage the'hide' as shown in Fig. 2, and the presser roll 36'acts to yieldingly press'the hideagainst the spreading roll 34. The

squeeze rolls then act to draw the half section of the hide between themand past the setting out roll 34, thus spreading out and wringingonehalf of the hide. The squeeze rolls are then separated, andthereafter the other half section of the hide is positioned between thesqueeze rolls and the rolls 34 and 36 and operated thereon as in thefirst instance. In wringing out the hide the shanks and neck portionsbeing thicker have pleats or creases formed therein, and the higher thewringing pressure the greater will be the pressure to which thesethicker creasable portions are subjected. These thicker portions as theypass between the woolen coverings or belts l9 and 2'! tend to embedthemselves therein and thus break down the woolen coverings; yet it isdesirable to use a high wringing pressure on the smooth portions of thehide. Also when heavy pressures are used, the pleated portions of thehide itself sometimes crack which, of course, reducesthe value of thefinished stock. With the present invention when the shanks and neckportions of the hide are passing between the squeeze rolls, the operatorreleases the foot treadle lever 60 which due to the dash-pot mechanismis not instantly released with the result that the relief valvemechanism 5'! for the hydraulic pressure fluid is not fully opened untilafter the pleatable portions of the hide have passed between the squeezerolls with the result that the shank and neck portions areno-t subjectedto the full pressure, but the pressure on these portions is sometwothirds of the total pressure, so that the life of the roll coveringsis conserved, the hides themselves are prevented from being cracked atthe shanks, and the pleatable portions are a little more moist than theother portions of the hide which helps in the performing of subsequentoperations, such as splitting. The pressure of the rolls acting on thehide is visible to the operator through the gauge 68 at all times, andhe may readily release the pressure on either end of the skin, that is,on either the head or the shank portion of the hide. So far as I amaware, I am the first to vary the pressure on the hide during thewringing operation thereof, so that the pressure on the pleatableportions of the' hide is reduced from that of the other portions, and I,therefore, desire it to be understood that this invention is not to belimited to the details of construction hereinbefore set forth except inso far as limitations. are included in the claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1'. In a leather wringing machine, the combination with the wringingrolls, of means for moving one of said wringing rolls into cooperativepressing association with the hide disposed between said rollscomprising a beam in which said wringing-roll is carried, an hydraulic.cylinder, a piston working in said cylinder anddirectly connected to thecentral part of said beam, and means for supplying. said cylinder withoperating fluid. Q.

2. In a leather wringing machine, the combination with the wringingrolls, of means for moving one of said wringing rolls into cooperativepressing association with-the hide disposed between said rollscomprising "a beam on which said wringing roll is carried, an hydrauliccylinder, a piston working in said cylinder and having a swivelledconnection with the' central part of said beam, means for guiding saidbeam, an

equalizer for the ends of said beam, and means for supplying saidcylinder with operating fluid.

3. In a leather wringing machine, the combination with cooperative setsof wringing rolls and a covering for each set of rolls, of hydraulicallyoperated mechanism for moving one set of wringing rolls and its coveringinto pressing engagement with the other set of wringing rolls and itscovering and for putting pressure on the hide between said coverings,means for supplying said mechanism with pressure fluid, a control valvefor said last named means, means under the control of the operator foroperating said control valve, and means for checking the release actionof said valve operating means.

4. In a leather wringing machine, the combination of a frame, an upperwringing roll unit, a

lower wringing roll unit including a beam slidably guided on said frame,said beam having slots adjacent its ends, equalizer arms Working in saidslots, a shaft connecting said arms, an hydraulic cylinder, a pistonworking in said cylinder and having a swivelled connection with thecentral part of said beam, and means for supplying said cylinder withoperating fluid.

5. In a leather wringing machine, the combination of a wringing rollunit comprising three rolls in spaced relation including a pair ofdriven rolls and a guide roll, an endless covering running over saidrolls, means for individually adjusting the ends of said guide ro-llwhile said driven rolls are operating to tension the covering about saiddriven rolls, a bodily movable wringing roll unit including a roll and acovering for said roll, and means for bodily moving said last named r011unit into wringing association with said first named unit.

WILLIAM C. JOHNSON.

